Chronology Of Events

1993

October: Manic Street Preachers tour Japan and Germany.
In Japan, there is supposedly an incident between Richey and a female fan. (The This Is Our Truth web site used to have an account of this. Here's a link to the page on the Internet Archive. The account is near the bottom of the page. It's labeled "FANZINE ARTICLE by Tracy Sharkpool".)
In Germany, Richey goes through a self-admitted "bad period". He begins to stub out cigarettes on his arm, and his drinking increases. The band send him to a health farm, (for the second time), when they return to Britain.

1994

By this time, Richey has finally moved out of his parents' house in Blackwood, Gwent, and has taken a flat in Cardiff.

January - 5 February: Manic Street Preachers tour in the UK.

7 February: single, "Life Becoming a Landslide" is released.

2 March: the Manic Street Preachers play a benefit concert at the Clapham Grand, London, for cancer research. The band are joined by Bernard Butler for several songs. (There are YouTube videos of almost all of this show. You can watch them from this site. Go to the "Videos" page.)

8 April: Kurt Cobain, a favourite artist of Richey's, is found after killing himself approximately three days earlier.

22-23 April: Manic Street Preachers play two shows in Bangkok, Thailand. The second night, Richey is given a set of knives by a fan, which he uses to cut his chest before the show. He also stops eating around this time. Richey is sent to a health farm, (for the third time), when they return to Britain. The band will see, in retrospect, the Thai concerts as the beginning of the serious trouble with Richey.

July: Richey disappears for 48 hours. Shortly after he returns, following two days of drinking and self-mutilation, in an apparent suicide attempt, he is committed to Whitchurch hospital in Cardiff, then to the Priory Clinic in Roehampton, for ten weeks of rehabilitation.

30 July: Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at the T In The Park festival, without Richey.

8 August: single, "Revol", is released.

19 & 21 August: Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at festivals in Germany and Holland, without Richey.

27 August: the Manic Street Preachers honour their commitment to play at the Reading festival, without Richey.

30 August: the third Manic Street Preachers album, The Holy Bible, is released. This has been seen by some people as Richey's suicide note.

Early September: Richey checks out of the Priory Clinic.

September - October: Manic Street Preachers tour in France, as the support act for Therapy?.

3 October: single, "She is Suffering", is released.

October: Manic Street Preachers tour in the UK.

7 November - December: Manic Street Preachers tour in Europe, as the support act for Suede.
Sometime during the tour, Richey buys a meat cleaver, apparently intending to chop off his fingers, so that he doesn't have to play onstage, in emulation of Steve Clark, guitarist for Def Leppard. The cleaver is taken away from Richey before he can use it on himself.

22 November: Simon Price, a reporter for Melody Maker music weekly, interviews Richey in Paris. It is the last time Richey will speak to the British press by himself. The following morning, Richey will be interviewed by a different journalist with the rest of band.

24 November: Nicky discovers after a show in Amsterdam, that Richey has cut himself vertically down his chest, an injury which requires 36 (by some accounts) stitches.

29 or 30 November: the last TV interview with Richey is recorded in Stockholm for a Swedish TV channel. (To see this, go to the "Videos" section.)

1 December: Nicky finds Richey outside the group's hotel in Hamburg, Germany, repeatedly banging his head on the wall, blood streaming down his face. The European tour is ended, despite several more shows on the schedule.

19-21 December: Richey's last three shows with the Manic Street Preachers, at the London Astoria. The group smashes their equipment at the end of the last show.Note - there is no video from Richey's last show available commercially! What is sometimes labeled as Richey's last show, is actually from the show on the 20th. There is an audio recording of 21 December, however. You can hear or download it from this site. Go to the "Sounds" page.

1995

January: Manic Street Preachers begin rehearsals for their fourth album.
It has been widely reported by the media that Richey took £200 a day from his bank account for the two weeks before his disappearance, for a total of £2800. However, his sister, Rachel, has said that Richey had already spent this money before he disappeared.

14 January: Richey and his sister, Rachel, bury the dog they had for 17 years, Snoopy. It is the last time Rachel sees Richey.

Mid-January: Richey attends a show at TJ's in Newport. This is the last time he is seen at a public event.

23 January: Richey gives his last ever interview, for the Japanese magazine, Music Life, with Midori Tsukagoshi.

23 January: Richey sees his parents for the last time.

29-30 January: Manic Street Preachers spend these days rehearsing for their upcoming tour of America.

31 January: Richey talks to his mother for the last time. He tells her that he isn't really looking forward to going to America.

31 January: Richey and bandmate James Dean Bradfield check into the London Embassy hotel on Bayswater Road in London in preparation for leaving for their promotional tour of America the next day.

1 February: Richey checks out of the London Embassy hotel, and is never seen again. It is certain that he drives to his flat in Cardiff where he leaves some things before driving away again. Meanwhile, James goes on to America, believing Richey may return after a few days.

2 February: Martin Hall, the Manic Street Preachers' manager, files a missing person report on Richey with the Metropolitan (London) police. Richey's family places an advert in their local paper. It reads: "Richard, please make contact. Love Mum, Dad and Rachel". The advert runs for three days.

February: sometime during the two weeks following his leaving the Embassy Hotel in London, Richey is supposedly spotted at the passport office in Newport.

5 February: David Cross, a fan from Mid-Glamorgan, supposedly sees Richey at the Newport bus station.

7 February: Anthony Hatherhall, a taxi driver from Newport, supposedly picks up Richey from the King's hotel in Newport, and drives him around the valleys, including Blackwood. The passenger gets off at the Severn View service station and pays the £68 fare in cash.

15 February: the South Wales police issue a public statement about Richey's disappearance. Also, Richey's father, Graham Edwards, appears on Cardiff's Red Dragon Radio, to appeal to Richey to get in touch. The Manic Street Preachers issue an official band statement.

17 February: Richey's Vauxhall Cavalier is reported abandoned at the (Aust) Severn service station. Apparently, Richey has been living in it for a time. The battery is run down, and burger wrappers and pictures of his family, which were taken the month before, are found in it.

29 December: Manic Street Preachers make their first public appearance since Richey's disappearance, as support for The Stone Roses at Wembley Arena.

1996

15 April: single, "A Design for Life", is released.

20 May: the fourth Manic Street Preachers album, Everything Must Go, is released. This contains songs Richey worked on with the group before he disappeared.

5 October: Channel Four airs the television programme, The Vanishing of Richey Manic, as part of a series called Fame Factor. (To see this, go to the "Videos" section.)

November: Vyvyan Morris, a lecturer from Neath College in South Wales, supposedly sees Richey in a hippie market in Goa, India.

1997

17 March: Rachel Edwards, Richey's sister, hits out at the police for not properly handling the investigation of her brother during the BBC Radio Wales documentary Eye On Wales.

April: the English group, Ideal, receive notice for a song they wrote called, "Richey Is Dead".

1998

November: Tracey Jones, a British-born barmaid on the island of Fuerteventura, supposedly sees Richey in the Underground Bar in the town of Corralejo.

1999

May: it is reported by PC Michael Cole of the Metropolitan Police, that more work has been done on Richey's case in the previous year, than in the three years before.

2000

February: Sherry Edwards, Richey's mother, writes a letter to Richey in the Sunday Mirror newspaper. She also appears on television to appeal to Richey to come home.

2002

January: with the seventh anniversary of Richey's disappearance near, his parents, Graham and Sherry Edwards, say they will never have their son declared dead. It is legally possible to have a missing person declared dead after seven years.

March: a pair of trainers, along with some bones, are found washed up by the Severn River. They are later determined to not be Richey's.

2003

July: a skeleton is found in the Bristol channel. It is determined to not be Richey's.

14 July: "Judge Y'rself", the last song written with Richey, is released on the album, Lipstick Traces - A Secret History of the Manic Street Preachers. The song was originally recorded for the Judge Dredd movie soundtrack, but never released.

2004

6 December: the third Manic Street Preachers album, The Holy Bible, is re-issued in a special 2CD and DVD 10th anniversary edition.

2008

4 November: it is reported that Manic Street Preachers have been recording a new album, due out in Spring 2009, which will contain only the lyrics Richey left with them before he disappeared.

23 November: it is reported that Richey's legal status has been changed, by court order, to "presumed dead". His parents, Graham and Sherry Edwards, have been granted control of his estate, and the missing person case on Richey is now officially closed.

2009

18 May: the eleventh Manic Street preachers album, Journal For Plague Lovers is released. It contains only the last lyrics Richey left with the band before he disappeared.

2014

8 December: the third Manic Street Preachers album, The Holy Bible, is re-issued in a special 20th anniversary edition.

2018

February: it is reported that Richey's toll receipt for when he crossed over the Severn bridge on 1 February, 1995, was for 2:55 AM, not 2:55 PM, as had been previously believed.